Jockey Club helps Open Universitya£á?s expansion

02/28/2012

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust has donated HK$200.7 million to The Open University Hong Kong (OUHK) towards the cost of a new college building and to launch a new Jockey Club Community Healthcare Education Programme to train more healthcare workers to serve our ageing population.

Today (28 February), Club Chairman T Brian Stevenson and Steward Anthony W K Chow joined Secretary for Education Michael Suen, OUHK Council Chairman Dr Eddy Fong, Deputy Chairman Edward Cheung and President Professor John Leong to perform the ground breaking ceremony for the new campus.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Chow said the Trust has donated over HK$343 million to the university for its campus building and teaching facilities over the years, including these latest donations.

“Today’s ceremony marks not only the ground breaking for a new building but also a ground-breaking development for the Open University of Hong Kong, because it will add to the campus a purpose-made home for its full-time students.”

Apart from contributing HK$190 million towards the construction of this building, the Club’s Charities Trust has provided HK$10.7 million to launch an Integrated Healthcare Education Programme designed to help meet the community need for more nurses and healthcare workers to serve our ageing population.

Due to be completed in end next year, the 12-storey building on Chung Hau Street in Ho Man Tin, to be named Jockey Club Campus, will feature a green design and include a Jockey Club Auditorium, lecture halls, creative arts studios, laboratories and darkrooms. These state-of-the-art facilities will accommodate over 2,400 full-time students and the new space will also enable the university to introduce three new academic divisions covering three key disciplines, Cultural and Creative Arts, Testing and Certification and Medical Services.

Under the five-year Jockey Club Community Healthcare Education Programme, 1,000 students will study for Certificates and Diplomas as Healthcare Workers over the years, while a further 1,500 carers and volunteers will be trained to provide community-based case support to the elderly and patients with chronic diseases.  This programme will supplement the university’s nurse training programmes.  The Jockey Club funding also includes 300 scholarships for needy students.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club

Founded in 1884, The Hong Kong Jockey Club has become one of Hong Kong's best known and respected organisations, providing the public with world-class sporting entertainment as well as being the city's major non-Government community benefactor, now donating more than HK$1 billion a year to  charitable and community projects.  It has been a part of Hong Kong through good times and bad, sharing the city's growth and development with its people, and is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for future generations.